A wide variety of off-the-shelf media players are available in the industry to play media data, such as video or audio data. Because the byte size associated with media data is typically very large, delivering media data to a media player can be technologically challenging. This challenge is especially problematic when a media player resides on a computing device that receives media data from a media source device via a connection with only limited bandwidth capabilities.
To solve the media data delivery problem, a number of solutions have been developed. First, increased bandwidth connections to media source devices have become readily available to end-users. Some of these increased bandwidth connections include cable connections, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections, satellite connections, and the like. Furthermore, end-users, in some cases, have elected to completely download media data to their local computing devices before playing the media data on the media player. Moreover, the industry has developed data streaming techniques, streaming communication protocols, and caching techniques to reduce latency or perceived latency associated with delivering media data to media players.
Generally, existing data streaming techniques intentionally introduce latency in order to buffer the media data. This allows the data to be processed more uniformly, thereby permitting the media player to continuously play a stream of media data. As the media player consumes media data, additional media data are received, thereby keeping the media player's buffer full. In this way, the media data appear to play uninterrupted to an end-user viewing or listening to the media data within the media player's viewer. Accordingly, initial latency is believed to be necessary to improve the end-user's overall experience so that, once play is initiated, it is not choppy (e.g., interrupted).
Yet, latency associated with initially starting the media player is annoying to end-users and often the end-users attribute poor service to the initial startup delays. Existing media players do not start playing the media data until enough media data are received into the media player's buffer to support the data streaming process. As a result, the end-user experiences an intentional and often frustrating latency until the media player's buffer acquires enough media data from the media source device to begin playing.
Generally, streaming content requires startup delays, when played on media players, for periods of five seconds or more as the media player's buffer is populated with media data. Moreover, the streaming content is delivered to the media player at a fixed rate using a fixed bandwidth. Correspondingly, the streaming content cannot avoid startup delays with present methods and systems.
As is apparent, there exists a need for improving the delivery of streaming content to existing media players, wherein an initial latency can be eliminated or substantially diminished. In this way, end-users will experience immediate service from a streaming content provider. Moreover, there exist a need for the end-user to not have to modify existing media players to reduce startup latency. Further, there exists a need for the end-user to be able to maintain the end-user's existing bandwidth connections and still enjoy a latency-free media player.